SANTA ANA, Calif. (Nov. 18) -- A man who raped two young girls at knifepoint and threatened to bury them in a graveyard was released from prison by a warden who ignored a prosecutor's plea for a few more hours to obtain a judicial stay.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has spent the past year trying to make sure Lawrence Brown, 55, did not get paroled for the 1983 attacks. Nevertheless, Brown was released Wednesday evening from a Los Angeles-area prison after serving only half of his 49-year sentence.

The California Department of Corrections placed a hold on Brown, but Deputy Warden Richard Alvarado of Chino State Prison decided to release him anyway.

"To him, [Brown] was a mere number, so he said, 'OK, you are out,' " said Jim Tanizaki, one of Rackauckas' top attorneys, recalling a phone conversation he had with Alvarado. "He said he didn't think the order to hold Brown until 11:59 p.m. was a proper order, so he was going to release him."

Calls to Alvarado were referred to a prison spokesperson, who declined to comment on the case.

Brown left prison around 5 p.m. Wednesday in a car with his girlfriend and was promptly pulled over by district attorney investigators, who planned to follow him home. He was arrested on a parole violation for being inside a car with a female. This condition was imposed because Brown lured his victims, ages 7 and 8, in separate instances, into his red van as they walked to school and raped and sodomized them. One girl weighed just 35 pounds, Rackauckas said.

"It makes you sick thinking about it," Rackauckas told AOL News. "This is the worst it gets short of murder."

The girls were threatened with a knife, shown a bloody rag and told they would be killed if they reported the incident, Rackauckas said.

Widespread media attention about Brown's impending release prompted a woman to come forward Wednesday, saying she and her friend were raped by Brown in the 1970s when they were 9 years old, Rackauckas said.

One of the girls was the daughter of Brown's then girlfriend. The statute of limitations has passed on that case and it cannot be prosecuted.

However, the additional information was enough for Rackauckas to try a last-ditch appeal to the state Department of Mental Health, which evaluates sexual offenders and recommends whether they should be labeled sexually violent predators. A judge's ruling could have kept Brown incarcerated in a mental facility, potentially for life.

State psychiatrists refused to make this determination in the year leading up to Brown's release and would not share any of their reports or reasoning with Rackauckas, citing privacy concerns, Rackauckas said.

The psychiatrists were also told that Brown asked Rackauckas several years ago to review his case, through a local Innocence Project, because Brown claimed to have been wrongfully convicted. A review of DNA from one of the girl's underpants came back with a match to Brown.

Wednesday, mental health officials said they would change their findings and invited Rackauckas to obtain a judge's ruling on the sexually violent predator status. It was then that Rackauckas ran into resistance from the prison. The status can only be given while the inmate is still incarcerated.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton would not comment on Brown's release, saying it was still being sorted out.

"We don't know what communication or documents may or may not have been sent to the prison," she said.

State Sen. Lou Correa, who has worked with Rackauckas to toughen sexual assault laws, said he is outraged over the chain of events where state officials tried to thwart a DA's quest for public safety. Correa said he wants to submit legislation to close any loopholes.

These two agencies are working in a very disjointed way, in uncoordinated effort," Correa said. "They are not working for the interest of the public."

Correa and Rackauckas also discovered that Brown had been paroled in April without the DA's knowledge, but sent back to prison when a parole officer found he had deactivated a GPS monitoring device he was supposed to wear.

For now, Brown is back at Chino Prison and awaits a parole violation hearing, which will occur within 45 business days. Rackauckas said he has no doubt that if released, Brown would kill his next victim.

"He's done these terrible things to these two girls, sat in court and watched the girls testify," Rackauckas said. "Two things are clear: One, he is a recidivist. Two, the stakes will be too high to let another victim live."



That was quick thinking by the DA's Investigator to get him on the violtion. He now can'r get out anytime soon.

What a Dumba$$ violating his parol right as he leaves prison.

What a shame the death penalty isn't on the table for people like this........it should be ab option

He probably won't be out long and we'll have another victim to contend with.

He's back in jail. They picked him up on a parole violation as he left the prison.

I can't believe there is a staute of limitations for rape.

Rape, sexul abuse\assult and murder are the three unforgivables.